Summer Institute : Art, Media + Design : Courses

Core Curriculum
You will customize your schedule by choosing one or two majors and two electives. Majors meet Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, while electives meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Course descriptions below.

*This is an all-day course that meets in both the A and B major slots. If selecting this course you will not choose a course from Block B.

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

MAJORS: Block A

Animation*Learn the basics of animation through storyboarding, drawing, filming, editing and image manipulation using software such as Adobe AfterEffects. Professional animators will teach you traditional hand-drawn animation, stop-motion with clay and found objects, and computer animation to create your own short animations and demo reel. This is an all-day course. You will not choose a course from Major Block B.

Fashion + Fibers: Wearable Art (FULL)
This course explores the role fabric plays in fashion, both as fine art and design. Learn how to manipulate patterns and utilize drafting changes to create new styles. Focusing on on sewing, pattern-making skills, fabric dyeing, embroidery, and drawing with a sewing machine students will create unique garments that can be worn or displayed.

Filmmaking* (FULL)
Study direction, cinematography and editing by using state of the art cameras, equipment and software. With award-winning filmmakers as your instructors, learn to story board, develop characters, shoot scenes and edit work for a final presentation. Gain an understanding of the modern film industry as well as the role film plays in the contemporary art world while making your own short film. At the end of the program you will have a portfolio of small films as well as one longer, comprehensive piece. This is an all-day course. You will not choose a course from Major Block B.

Illustration (FULL)
In this class you will bring stories to life by making images that can be masterful works of art or practical illustrations. Learn both the hand-drawn and digital processes used to create images for a number of exciting applications such as children’s books, advertising campaigns, music promotion, clothing apparel, packaging and comic books. Strong drawing skills and a passion for storytelling are essential.

Painting
In this course, both fine art and contemporary painting will be studied. Your heightened perception is developed as you explore the study of color, surface and composition working with still life and nude models to create observational paintings. Color theory and paint mixing techniques are addressed as you learn the fundamentals of painting. Prior drawing experience is required.

Photography
Delve into the world of photography, with Philadelphia as your backdrop. This course will provide you with a foundation in digital imaging, from capture, to edit, to output. Develop and expand your technical skills and creative problem solving to make imaginative and real-world based images. Workshops will cover digital capture, color management, digital image editing, and output of images. Students will need a digital SLR for this class.

Product Design: Designing the Things We Use
Creating a better human experience is at the center of product design. Learn parts of the complex process of creating consumer products – including ideation drawing, computer automated design, prototyping, and an introduction to basic industrial design shop tools and materials, including the laser cutter, CNC, and 3d printer. Instructors teach 3-dimensional design and assist students in fabricating iterative prototypes and final models. In class, you will learn the importance of sound design thinking and good design process and how it can lead to something others might value.

Skateboard + Media*Do you ever sit in class wishing you were skating instead? In this class students will photograph and film classmates and guest skaters at local skate parks to learn the art of documenting skateboarding. Class will focus on creating videos and photographs of skateboarding with traditional and digital equipment and media. Fundamental photo and video techniques will be discussed in class to give students a well rounded background that they can draw from and will prepare students for the wide range of scenarios that skateboarders encounter. This is an all-day course. You will not choose a course from Major Block B.

Art for Games Focusing on Pre-Production processes students interested in game theory will learn how to design their own characters and worlds for conceptual games. This can include constructing logical narratives and rules to create a hypothetical space and bring their game to life. Both concept art and design will be explored.

Editorial Fashion Photography
Fashion advertisements are seen by millions of people every day. Let your images be one of them! You will learn studio lighting using the University’s professional-grade equipment to create intriguing images for online and print media. Advanced camera controls and post-production techniques using Adobe Creative Suite are also covered in this course.

Experimental Painting
Art was never made to have boundaries and this painting course is about the lack thereof. If you are open to rinsing off painted surfaces, redefining parameters and using unconventional tools, then this course is for you. You will manipulate surfaces, recreate edges and create imagery in unconventional ways using space and rhythm as your guide.

Graphic Design+ Pop Culture
Art is everywhere in our modern world. Magazines, movie posters, album covers, etc., all utilize graphic design to convey their message to the viewer. Design and pop culture have grown more and more intertwined throughout the years, and this course will explore the relationship between art and modern advertisement. You will focus on key elements for visual communication such as type design, layout and image treatment in the context of current pop culture. You’ll learn about the influence of design on trending topics, while master the technical skills involved using the Adobe Creative Suite to bring your pieces to life.

Graphic Novel
Learn the elements involved in making your own graphic novel and comic illustrations— from conceptual stage to illustration and beyond. This class will emphasize character and narrative development and expand your writing and drawing skills. Strong storytelling and drawing skills are required.

Jewelry + Metal Design
An introduction to metalwork through several jewelry projects. Students learn basic metalsmithing techniques: piercing, cutting, soldering, polishing, oxidizing to make jewelry or sculpture. Movement is also approached through aspects of linkage and chain forming.

Sculpture + Installation
Explore space, composition and materials while designing contemporary installations. Create large-scale, 3-dimensional work that incorporates found objects as well as original forms created from clay, metal, plaster or wood. As part of the Summer Institute, you will visit galleries and museums to study ancient through modern sculpture in context.

Character Development: Illustration (FULL)This course allows students to create and design their own comic book character in terms of image as well as concept and personality. Working from the imagination and using a variety of media, students develop characters through a series of thumbnail sketches that evolve into a finished and highly-rendered image. The characters developed for this class can be used in children's books, animation, computer animation, comic books, cartoons or graphic novels.

Cinematography (FULL)This hands-on course will teach you the ins and outs of digital cinematography. Not only will you learn how to use the University’s professional-grade cameras, but you will also learn the terminology and techniques necessary to communicate your vision through film. Through demonstrations and exercises, the basic principles of digital cinematography: Composition, Lighting, Depth of Field, and Continuity, will be examined and used to create short films for your portfolio.

Creative WritingStudy the art of words and writing to work towards developing your own writing style. Coursework may include a sampling of poetry, fiction, memoir or short story writing. You will take field trips around Philadelphia to find inspiration and create new pieces for your portfolio while receiving critiques from your fellow classmates and professional writers.

Hack Your World: Laser + 3-D Printing
This class will question the everyday objects and environment around us. Students will be introduced to the software necessary to use the 3d printer and the laser cutter to "hack" the products we take for granted- moving from idea, to sketch, to tangible object.

Illustration + Design: Skateboards + T-shirts
Skateboarding has one of the rawest and most unique cultures in the art world. From skateboard graphics to company logos, the skateboard community has been and continues to be a source of original and influential art. Artists like Jim Phillips, Marc Mckee, Ed Templeton, Habitat, Girl, Anti Hero and many more thrive in the skateboarding art scene. This class enables you to not only take influences from these artists, but to become a part of the culture yourself. You’ll get a chance to make your own designs to print on skate decks and t-shirts in this course.

Street Art: Fibers
Using knitting, crocheting, weaving and other techniques, participate in the guerilla-style graffiti technique of yarn-bombing. This course will explore the history and concepts behind this growing artform. You will learn how to create "cozies" using the aforementioned techniques while turning ordinary objects into new works of art.

Street Photography (FULL)
Follow in the footsteps of great street photographers like Cartier-Bresson, Atget and Friedlander by capturing everyday life with your lens. Explore concepts such as “the decisive moment,” camera controls and historical context. You’ll put these concepts to use on walking trips to local Philadelphia parks, markets and galleries to transform the conventional into the exceptional.

Advanced Drawing ProjectsIn Advanced Drawing Projects, students explore the drawing processes of line, volume, and space through experimental, multidisciplinary, and collaborative methods, using both traditional and non-traditional materials. Lectures will introduce students to contemporary artists and their drawings, and classroom discussions will focus on critically evaluating and defining what drawing is.

Designing with Digital Tools
In this course you will have an introduction to the integration of basic design principles, processes and applications using Photoshop and Illustrator. This course will explore the relationship between the object being designed and design itself. Students will learn to use digital tools to create real world objects that are meaningful solutions to design problems. Through a series of exercises and projects, students experience how design can inform, facilitate, inspire, persuade, engage, and provoke.

Digital Effects for Film + Animation (FULL)
In this introductory course you will learn techniques and methods for creating digital based effects in both live-action and animation. Shoot and light sequences in front of a green screen for compositing into another setting. Create standard effects such as muzzle slashes, classic lightsabers, explosions, and more using particle emitters and other effects for everything for a sci fi, fantasy, horror, drama or comedy genre. Software programs such as Adobe Premiere, After Effects, and Photoshop will be used. A final project will consist of creating a special effects sequence from storyboard, production to post.

Drawing I: Introduction
If you have not had formal training in drawing, this is the place to start. Drawing is a fundamental foundation for all fine arts, crafts, media and design areas. Course objectives include honing observation skills while working mostly from still life, models and/or landscapes. You will work with media such as pencil, charcoal and ink. Basic skills such as perspective, composition, light and shadow, and tonal variations are explored.

Experimental Photo (FULL)
Open to both experienced photographers and beginners, this course introduces you to experimental photo processes and nontraditional ways to consider the photographic image. Using a variety of films and cameras while pushing the boundaries of how one views the world, you will explore processes such as pinhole cameras and cyanotypes.

Figure DrawingThis course allows students to focus exclusively on the challenges of drawing from the figure. You will develop drawing and visual skills while working from the skeleton as well as clothed and nude models. Learn basic anatomy, gesture, structure, proportion, line and tone. Prior drawing experience is required.

Interactive SculptureNot all sculptures are meant just to be looked at; they can be much, much more. This course explores the possibilities that exist between the sculpture and the viewer. A park bench, fountain, and a railing all have the potential to be more than the initial idea for which they were designed. You’ll have the chance to use a variety of different materials to build an object that offers interaction through performance and purpose whether skateboarding or manipulation. Students will conceive and construct sculptures keeping the ideas of functionality and their own artistic expression in mind.

Sketchbook + ZineAs the birth place of artistic ideas, the sketchbook is where artists begin to develop a unique point of view to illustrate personal ideas, experiment, take visual notes and hone skills. In this course students will gain understanding of, exposure to and experience with a variety of media, techniques, and approaches to keeping a sketchbook/journal in the spirit of experimentation. This experimentation will be the foundation of the collaborative class zine where students will collect, edit and design their works into a finished work.

Street Art: Screen Printing
With South Broad Street, the Avenue of the Arts, as your canvas, delve into the world of street art. Study the craft of screen printing by mastering the photo-emulsion process and building an edition of prints. You will then display your prints around the city of Philadelphia on UArts' campus with methods such as wheatpasting. Meet local, Philadelphia street artists and be inspired by your urban surroundings.

Course information below is for the 2014 program.
Students in the Art, Media + design program are required to be in class and on campus Monday through Friday from 9 am – 6 pm and on Saturday from 9 am – 4 pm.